Re: NAACP Backs Same-Sex Marriage
I said the Bible doesn't change. Of course people do. That's the point of my whole argument is that scientists contradict themselves all the time. I agree that there are many different religions out there that try to intepret the Bible in many different ways. I believe God didn't intend for the Bible to be as complicated as we try to make it. We, as human beings, tend to overthink things. I take the Bible for what it says and practically apply it to my life. That's all I can do. I can't control what a Jehovah's Witness says about the Bible or a Mormon says about the Bible. I am one person. I am telling you what I believe and that is that the Bible is a book that is to be taken at face value.
The Bible was written by man. No matter what you may believe, it was written by men. And men interpret it. That is the pure facts and God would know these things. If He wanted it to be better understood, He wouldn't have written it as men do or had it written as men do. He would have found some way to make sure as many people as possible read exactly the same thing, or at least pretty damn close to it, every time it was written. There is more debate over what the Bible says and how to interpret it than probably any other book in history. I see that as a problem when people try to say that the Bible is the word of God and tell others how they should take the Bible and its meanings/stories.
It doesn't matter whose logic it is. I'll ask the question again. What real understanding do you have of fossils, physics, or biology? Do you have some sort of degree in those subjects? The Bible requires no degree to understand. Anyone can decipher the words of the Bible.
Do you have a degree in theology? How about a working knowledge of Aramaic or Greek or Latin? Are you a historian?
You have nothing but faith to back up the Bible as being inspired by God. I have evidence. It isn't necessarily absolutely conclusive, since most of science is really just being able to consistently show things will work the same way or has enough evidence for it that it is more likely to be true than something else until more evidence for something else is found.
You've never heard of the Germans? How about the various tribes in Africa that commit genocide and rape the women of another tribe simply because they are in said tribe. I don't know what you've experienced in your life, but, I've seen the worst side of man and believe he is more than capable of evil.
Not all those people are bad/evil. Many yes. But some are led astray rather than actually being evil. They can change given the right knowledge about how and how better it would be to be good rather than do bad.
You say you've seen the worst side of man and his evil, but then why do you think that God isn't helping those people or destroying them? That is what I don't get. The Bible says that God was willing to destroy towns/cities/the world due to evil, yet He doesn't feel it necessary to do it now? And the whole sending Jesus thing is a copout because we still have plenty of people who will claim that natural disasters or plagues against this country are punishment from God, so why doesn't He do the same to those other places?
You subscribe to the belief that God has to abide by those laws of physics and biology. Who set those laws? We did. Why would the Creator of the world and human beings abide by the laws of His creation? He would cease to be God. He would turn into just another being then. My God knows no bounds.
I don't necessary think God has to abide by those things, I believe He does so in dealing with us because He gave us everything we need and set up everything He needs to do so. Why send a flood if he could just send a virus to target specific people? God can do anything, so why operate in only the bounds of human physics, as most of the Bible stories do? Also, why place all the evidence for evolution and an old earth if only to have something written that contradicts it?
If the purpose of life is to live it, then it isn't necessary for God to kill us when some do evil things because it would be a part of experience for us.
So, what animal were you before this life?
First of all, I have no idea, because I don't have insight into my past lives. And I've never come across someone who does (although I don't discount the possibility of people who may be able to look into them).
Second of all, I wasn't necessarily talking about animals, although I don't discount the possibility that certain animals could be sentient. I was rather referring to other lifeforms. You know, sentient beings on other planets, in other galaxies? I even believe other dimensions are possible and the soul could move to those other dimensions.
